L.M. Myles, known to many Australians as Scottish Liz, has a lovely essay up at Uncanny talking about her search for an SFF grandmother, and how the author Naomi Mitchison so beautifully met her very specific requirements.
There’s been so much interesting commentary on Star Wars: the Force Awakens this month, and I particularly liked this Mary Sue article by Kate Bennion on the Feminist Message of the Dudes in The Force Awakens, talking about how the kindness and emotional narrative of Finn, Poe and even Han Solo himself make them more likeable and appealing characters to women, while poor old Kylo Ren represents contemporary toxic masculinity at its worst.
In How It Feels To Be Self-Published Me, Zetta Elliot finds her inspiration in a seminal essay by Zora Neale Hurston on coming to terms with being despised for her race, and comes to terms with her own identity as a self published author (as well as a woman of colour) who writes and publishes books for marginalised children.
Chuck Wendig shares some hard but highly entertaining truths about writing and publishing.
I don’t usually get political (ha, except always) on this blog, but I really enjoyed this essay by Joan Walsh about how she learned to be less apologetic about supporting Hillary Clinton.
Liz Bourke talks about the counter in her head (counting women!) over at Sleeps With Monsters.